Thursday, January 23, 2014

2014 has gotten off to a busy start for me. The new edition of The Roads to Baldairn Motte was officially released in e-book format on January 1, and co-authors Craig Comer, Ahimsa Kerp and I have been busily at work writing guest posts and doing interviews to help get the word out.

The second piece came out today—a fun interview at Dab of Darkness, where the three of us chat about influential fantasy books, the best movie adaptations, why tattoos are cooler than cos-play, and lusty pirates. Arrr!

And speaking of interviews, I had the great opportunity to interview spec-fiction author Bruce McAllister this week. He's a fascinating man and I highly recommend both Dream Baby and his newest novel, The Village Sang to the Sea. My interview should hopefully be coming out soon at Black Gate. (Update 1/26/14: interview is live here.)

The only other exciting new for me is that I went on a great weekend writing retreat with my writing group, the Biscuits. I built up a good head of steam on the Dreamwielder sequel, which has once again become untitled (I had a name, but was told by my writing group that it made them think of masturbation, which isn't what I'm going for, not with this book at least...).

Sunday, January 19, 2014

I’m busting out of character and making a bit of confessional today. Yes, I’m a fantasy and sci-fi nerd. Yes, I hid in the locker room during lunch break in high school to finish the newest David Eddings book. Yes, I read scientific journals and pontificate on things like thermodynamics. But here’s the guilty admission:

While I’m very concerned about the environment, I grew up riding motorcycles and fixing up cars—I still get a hard-on for the growl of a naturally-aspirated V-8. If you need to win me over, get me a ’69 Camaro SS and I will be putty in your hands. I also like doing outdoor things: raising animals, chopping wood, growing garden crops, building contraptions, etc. And most on-point for this particular blog post, I like sports. Manly sports! Namely, basketball and football. I like to think I’m as passionate about the Sacramento Kings and San Francisco 49ers as any drunken soccer hooligan anywhere in the world (likely not, but I like to think it). And if you think I’m not qualified to write about sports being a spec-fiction author an all, then I’ll point to the precedence George R.R. Martin has established—that guy bitches about the lousy New York Giants and Jets all the time, and I still love him, so here I go, even if I'm not a millionth as successful as him….

Thursday, January 2, 2014

I’m not much for resolutions, but it is nice to reflect upon
the past year in order to recalibrate your goals going forward, so here’s my
2013 year in review. It was a big year for me, one in which I’ve hit a few
stumbling blocks and learned a lot about the business of being a writer.

Dreamwielder

The publication of my debut, standalone fantasy novel was
the big story for me in 2013(and a huge step forward in my career). After much
deliberation with my agent about the wisdom of signing with an e-book first
publisher, we inked a deal with Diversion Books at the end of 2012, and it paid
off. The first couple of months in 2013 were devoted to working with my editor
at Diversion to get the book ready for publication. The book was released in
e-book format on March 5 and was promptly picked up as a Nook First selection
at BarnesAndNoble.com. In May, the audiobook version was released by
Audible.com. To date, while not setting the fantasy world on fire, the book has
sold well and garnered positive reviews, including these two here and here,
although I did get this puzzlingly mediocre review in Tales of the Talisman. If
I continue to post improving sales numbers, we’ll hopefully be able to offer
the book in print.